Canucks are desperate for Daniel Sedin

NHL playoffs 2012: Vancouver Canucks are desperate for Daniel Sedin

LOS ANGELES — An Anaheim press box wag surmised Tuesday that before the Vancouver Canucks can clear Daniel Sedin to play in Game 4 of this Stanley Cup playoff series on Wednesday night, he will need to pass a baseline concussion test consisting of the following:

“Daniel, I’m going to show you two photographs. One is of yourself, the other is of your brother Henrik. Which one is you?”

“The one on the left.”

“OK, two out of three.”

If he aces it, the Canucks will have their top sniper back, and that 0-3 hole they’re in against the Los Angeles Kings won’t look quite as …

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Oh, who are we kidding? It’s still deep as hell, with or without the shooting half of the Swedish twin combo. But at least there will be some expectation of an offensive lift for a Canucks attack that has curled up into the fetal position in this series, and all but surrendered to Kings goalie Jonathan Quick.

There are reasons for this beyond the absence of Daniel — reasons named Ryan Kesler (zero goals in 15 games) and David Booth (one in 14) and Mason Raymond (zero in nine) and even Henrik, who has scored once in 24 games.

But as Kings coach Darryl Sutter said, when asked about what problems the return of Daniel would present: “Art Ross. Is Art Ross [Trophy] for scoring? Doesn’t that make a significant change?”

Well, yes. Add the 2011 NHL scoring champion to the lineup, and it makes defending the Canucks a little more complicated than it appears to have been so far.

Then again, the possibility always exists that Daniel returns to the hotel with a post-practice headache, as he did after a full workout last Monday, and it’s back to the drawing board. But by all appearances Tuesday afternoon at the Kings’ Toyota Center practice facility in El Segundo, he was hale and relatively hearty, smiling and alert during a long interview scrum afterwards — so unless it’s all an elaborate ruse by the Canucks, it looks as though he’s in.

“We’ll take it day by day. Today felt good,” Daniel said, after working on a line with Henrik and Booth, and with Henrik and Kesler on the first unit of a power play that is zero for 14 in the series.

He said he felt “no pressure at all” to return, other than his own desire to help out. “This organization, GM, coaches, trainers have been really good. They’ve almost been holding me back, that’s been the good thing about this.”

The four weeks of almost total inactivity, trying to get symptom-free after being elbowed in the head by Chicago’s Duncan Keith, has taken its toll on his physical condition.

“My shape is probably as low as it’s been in five years,” he said. “But hopefully, I can play on the power play and be a bit of a difference there, and that’s my main focus, and then if I can chip in five-on-five, too, I’ll take my chances.”

We’ve been through this with Sidney Crosby coming back from concussion, so we might as well just say it: He probably can expect to be hit, and hit hard, if he plays Game 4.

“He’s coming back from a head injury, but the main reason to be physical on a guy like Daniel is because he’s one of their best players and that’s why we’ve been hard on Kesler and [Alexandre] Burrows and those guys,” said Kings captain Dustin Brown, who clocked Henrik in Game 3 with a borderline blindside hit. “It’s the playoffs and you’ve got to be hard on their best players. And if he’s in the lineup, he automatically becomes one of their top three forwards.’’

“Even though he was out with a concussion, it’s not like we’re going to let up on him,” defenceman Drew Doughty said. “But at the same time we’re not going to be running around trying to hurt him or anything like that.”

Of course not.

No one smiled, or winked, while saying any of this, but Daniel knows what’s what. If he plays, he’s got to expect contact.

“I would never play if I’m not 100%,” he said. “That’s been made clear to me, and that’s been my goal. If I don’t feel all right [Wednesday], I’m not going to play. I don’t want to go through this again.”

By “this,” he means the headaches.

“That’s the thing, no one can see in my head how it feels. I’m a positive guy, and I tried to look at it in a positive way [last week], but I didn’t feel 100% for that practice.”

Coach Alain Vigneault won’t commit to Daniel playing until everything checks out in the morning, and wouldn’t name a goalie, either, though he said he’s made his decision. But the Canucks are down to zero margin for error. All hands on deck.

“Right now, we need a couple of difference makers,” Vigneault said. “I really liked our effort from our group the last two games, I really think we’re playing the right way, competing real hard — but we need a couple of guys on the ice to step up and be difference makers. It’s as simple as that. Obviously, they’ve had a few of their key players step up.”

For their part, the Kings are preparing as if Daniel will play, and bracing for the Canucks’ most desperate effort. They will not take anything for granted, said defenceman Rob Scuderi.

“When I was in Pittsburgh, we were up 3-0 against Philly one time, and then we lost two and were on our way to losing Game 6 against the Flyers — we were down 3-0 late in the second period — and you’re thinking: we’re headed to Game 7,” he said.

“So if I could say anything, it would be that you can’t pass up an opportunity to put a team’s lights out. A team that’s had as much success as they’ve had over the past three years, once you get even a little whiff of [life], you seem to take off and say, ‘Hey, why not, you know? Let’s see.’ And you know they’ve had streaks where they’ve won bunches of games in a row.

“So we have to take full advantage of this opportunity to knock them out.”